Throughout the week of November 10th, my neurochemistry class and I learned about and discussed a topic that is currently very prevalent in the United States. The topic we discussed is obesity and whether or not it can be considered a brain disease. Throughout the United States, many people are considered to be overweight and many of these people are considered to be obese. Severe health consequences are associated with obesity such as, increased risk of type II diabetes, heart disease, and strokes, so it important for people to keep their weight in check and also the types of food they are consuming. Recent research has been carried out in order to determine if the brain is involved in the pathogenesis and perpetuation of obesity. Throughout this blog, I will hopefully effectively explain how the brain is actually involved in obesity.
Overnutrition or overeating is a biological trap and it is not simply a willful choice. This means that is not an individual’s choice of how much they eat. Their brain elicits a response that causes them to eat more and thus experience obesity. Eating a diet that is high in fat disrupts the blood brain barrier in the hippocampus exposing the brain tissue to potentially damaging circulating factors that cannot normally interact with brain cells. Chronic high fat intake can lead to inflammatory changes in the brain cortex, which is evidenced by high concentrations of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). Along with having structural changes in the brain during periods of high fat intake, there are other affects that overnutrition has on the brain.
It has also been determined that overnutrition has important implications in the hypothalamus by inducing inflammation and dysfunction of the hypothalamus. In response to a high fat diet, proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α and interleukin-1 beta, were shown to be released and activate apoptotic signaling in the hypothalamus. Proinflammatory cytokines play important roles in the immune system by inducing inflammation, so the release of them in the hypothalamus causes inflammation within this region of the brain. Inflammation causes the depletion of neuronal cells in the hypothalamus and can lead to cognitive dysfunction. Inflammation can also lead to dysfunction in metabolic processes that include neural and endocrinal regulation, such as energy balance, glucose metabolism, and cardiovascular homeostasis. Hypothalamic inflammation also affects insulin release and action. It causes a disruption in normal insulin sensitivity and reduced peripheral insulin sensitivity.
Sleep deprivation has also been determined to play a role in the spread of obesity. Sleep deprivation in normal weight adults leads to increased overall neuronal activation in response to food. Obesity also interferes with normal sleep, most commonly by causing sleep apnea and daytime sleepiness. Regarding obesity and overnutrition, it is important for a person to get an adequate amount of sleep.
Since obesity and overnutrition is so prevalent in the United States today, it is important to know and understand the negative affects that they have on the brain. Obesity does much more than just cause a person to be unhealthy. It has important implications in the brain and can induce cognitive dysfunctions. The cognitive dysfunctions often come in the form of inflammation of the hypothalamus that has a variety of negative affects throughout the brain. Overall, it has been very interesting learning about obesity and its affects in the brain.
Connection Between the Brain and Obesity?
